james



2 Shets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

A. RfJAMES, MECHANISM FOR ORIMPING SHOE UPPBRS.

Patented Ma 24, 1887.

306372966666 here/Z07" v wzg N. PETERS. PhOlo-LEllmgmphnn Washinglun. D. c.

(No Mode 1.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

' A. 3. JAMES. MEGHANISM FOR GRIMPING SHOE UPPERS.

No. 363,521. Patented May 24, 1887.

N, PETERS, Phom-Lkhogra'pher, Wa'shingwm 0.6.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT R. JAMES, OF HAMILTON, ONTARIO, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN A. MOEAE,

. OF MONTREAL, CANADA.

MECHANISM FOR CRIMPING SHOE-UPPERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 363,521, dated May 24-, 1887.

Application filed December 15, 1886. Serial No. 221,610. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT It. JAMES, of Hamilton, county of Wentworth, and Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada, have in- 5 vented an Improvement in Mechanism for Crimping Shoe-Uppers, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts. This invention relates to and has for its object to improve and simplify that class of crimping mechanism represented in United States Patent No. 346,055, dated July 20, 1886, the machine described in the said patent containing an expansible mold, into which, by a co-operating plunger, is forced the piece of leather which is to be crimped into shape for the upper of a shoe, the leather beyond the opening in the mold being frictionally held during such operation against the mold by a clamping-foot, so that the plunger, as it forces the leather into the opening in the mold, has to draw the leather from under the said foot, the latter aiding in removing the wrinkles from theleather and in stretching it uniformly.

In the invention to be herein described the clamping-foot, at its lower side, is provided with a narrow rim instead of with abroad fiat bottom, as in the said patent, forI have found by experiment that the rather thin edge of the narrow rim by its contact with the leather outside the mold enables the leather to be more evenly and uniformly stretched.

My improved mold is composed of two halves or parts, one entering the other sidewise, as

will be described. 1

I have also provided the machine with a stripper to take the crimped shoe from the plunger below the mold.

My invention in crimping-machines consists,

essentially, in the combination, with a plunger, of a separable mold composed of two parts, one of which is movable laterally at times within the other, the entering or smaller part 5 of the mold having at its heel end a curved block provided with a lip having a knife-like edge to fit the inner wall of the larger part of the mold, so as to obviate the formation of a joint or space at thejunction of the two parts of the mold, into which the latter can enter; also, in thecombination, with a plunger and clamping-foot, of a separable mold composed v of two halves or parts, one of which enters the other at its side, the entering part of the mold having at the heel of the mold a curved block provided with a lip, as will be described, which is brought nearly or substantially to a knife- -edge and fits against the inner wall of the main half of the mold, as will be described, the opposite or toe end of the entering piece having also a shoulder which fits closely the end of the embracing half of the mold.

-My invention also consists in the combination, with the divisible or expansible mold and plunger, of a stripper to remove the crimped upper from the plunger below the mold.

Figure 1 in side elevation represents a crimping-machine embodying my invention. Fig. 1 represents the stripper detached; Fig. 2, an enlarged perspective detail showing the plunger, clamping-foot, and mold; Fig. 3, a top view of the mold; Fig. 4, a section of Fig. 2 in the dotted line no; and Fig. 5, an end view of the mold, partially broken out to show the parallel guide-pins for the two parts of the mold.

The main frame-work A, the power-shaft A, having fast onit the belt-wheel A the pinion A fast on the said shaft, the toothed gear B, engaged by the said pinion, the shaft B, to which the gear B is secured, the bevelpinion 13*, fast to the said shaft, and the bevelgear 13', attached to the said shaft, are and may be all as usual.

The rotating shaft 13, at its front end, has attached to it a disk, 0, provided with a suitable roller or other stud or block, which enters a slot in a cross-bar, O, secured to a bar, 0 having attached to its lower end the plunger 0, the said bar being rcciprocated in suitable guides mounted upon the framework, the bar being held in its guides by the caps a a. The shaft B has secured to it a cam-cylinder, B the cam-face of which receives against it a roller or otherstud, b, of the arm I) ofa rockshaft, I), mounted in the frame-work and having an arm, b upon which is mounteda weight, b", sufficiently heavy to normally keep the said rollerstud in contact with the said cam, the weight being heavy enough to lift the arms I) b, the slotted outer ends of which have pivoted to them by the screws b the ears of the clamping-foot b slotted centrally at 2 for the passage through it of the plunger 0, thelower side of the foot being cut away or shaped (see Fig. 4:) to leave a narrow rim or flange, as b, to bear upon the leather to be crimped when the latter, properly wet or moistened, is laid upon the top of the mold D contained in the mold-frame D, fixed .to or forming a part of the frame-work A.

The arms b b are adjustably attached by screws 3 3 to cars 4 of the rock-shaft If, other screws, 5, serving as adjusting-screws by which to determine the angle of the arms b b with relation to the rock-shaft b so as to insure for the clamping-foot just the proper extent of rising and falling movement to correctly cooperate with the surface of the mold D, according to the thickness or character of the leather to be crimped.

The mold is composed of two pieces d d,the part dhaving (see Fig. 3) an inclined side, 6, a straight toe end, 7, and a curved heel part, 8, terminated by a straight part, 9, the said part d being cut out to receive within it from its side the part d, the latter having-an inclined edge, 12, a sharp edge, 13, to fit close to the end 7, and a concaved block having a lip, 14, preferably of steel, the concaved face of the block being of substantially the same curvature as the part 8, one side of the block being straight to slide against the straight part 9 of the part d, as best shown in Figs. 2 and 3, wherein it will be seen that the lip 14 presents a thin knife-edge, as at 32, which extends from the top to the bottom of the part cl, the said edge being adapted to follow along the straight part 9, the said edge 32, as well as the corner 13, fitting the parts 9 and 7 so closely as to prevent the leather from entering between the said parts.

I Steel is used for the curved block having the lip 14, for if of castiron and as thin as necessary it would be broken.

In the patent referred to the two halves of the mold were alike and the mold separated centrally under pressure, leaving aslot, and to prevent the upper from being forced into the slot so formed the mold at its heel end was provided with a concaved block which came in contact with both halves of the mold.

In practice, owing to the great strain and pressure put upon the leather in forcing it through the mold, it has been found most difficult to retain this concaved block in position to operate correctly and avoid injury to the upper, and the upper was liable to be forced by the clamping-foot into the slot between the two halves of the die at the rear of the said curved block.

By making one half of the mold smaller than the other half and shaping the smaller half, as d, so as to move out from and into the larger half, as d, as shown and described in the accompanying drawings, the formation of a gap or slot between the two parts or halves of the mold at its ends, into which the upper can enter whenbeingforced through the mold,

D, the strips ebeing made adjustable by suitable screws, 6 The half (1 has screwed into it two guide-studs, 16, which enter loosely holes in the halfd, the said studs and the walls 7 9 securing a proper straight-line movement of the parts of the mold with relation each to the other without binding or cramping.

The inner faces or walls of the halvesd d of the mold are corrugated or scored, as at 17,

(see Figs. 2'and 3,) the corrugations inclining toward the narrow or toe end of the mold, to thus compel the leather being forced through the center of the mold by the plunger 0 to be stretched closely about the broader or heel end of the plunger, the excess of material of the upper being thus forced toward the toe of the vamp, or the toe or thinner end .of the former G which I have found in practice to be of very great advantage in giving correct or practical shape to the upper.

The hub of the cam-cylinder B is provided (see Fig. 1) with a camgroove, B, which receives in it a roller or other stud, 18, (see dotted lines,) extended from the upper end of the lever f, pivoted at f, the lower end of the said lever having a pin, f that enters a slot, f, in the armf, pivoted atf on a block,f, suitably screwed to the floor, or it may be the frame-work.

The stripper is composed, essentially, of the jaws g", secured to the arm 9, pivoted at g on the stripper-carrying arm f the arm g being acted upon by a suitable spring, as g, or it might be a weight to normally keep the stripper pressed upward against the bot-tom of the mold as the stripper is moved horizontally backward and forward by the pin f of the lever f in the slot f 3 of the arm f.

Operation: The oval blank or piece of leather to be crimped, it being properly soaked or wet, is laid upon the mold so that the center of the blank lies over the central space of the mold. Then the clamping-foot b is forced down upon the leather, and the plunger 0 is depressed to act upon the leather inside the foot and above the central opening in the mold, so that the plunger in its further descent forces the blank through the central opening of the die, drawing the upper from under the foot, the rim b thereof acting, as will be readily apparent, to wipe out to the edge of the blank the wrinkles which otherwise would be formed and become prominent during the act of forcing the central part of the blank through the mold. As the blank is forced through the mold the corrugations act to pull or stretch it about the broad or heel end of the plunger toward the central part thereof. As the plunger,with the crimped upper upon it, emerges from the under side of the mold the stripper is moved forward or toward the right, so that the free ends of the spring-arms enter between the crimped upper and the toe end of the plunger, one arm traveling along one and the other arm along the other side of the plunger, and by the time that the stripper arrives in the position shown in. Fig. l the plunger rises and the clampingfoot is lifted. As the plunger rises, the stripper having entered the open toe end of the upper, the upper is left on the stripper, and the upper drops off the stripper as soon as the plunger commences to rise.

I do not desire to limit my invention to a stripper constructed exactly as shown, for it is obvious that the stripper could be variously modified'without departing from my invention.

1. In acrimping-machine, a plunger, combined with an expansible mold through which the plunger is forced, the said mold being composed of two halves or parts, into one of which the other half or part enters and slides laterally as the plunger pushes the upper into the mold, substantially as described.

2. The expansible mold consisting, essentially, of a part, d, having a toe end, 7, and a stantially as described.

4:. The mold part (I, having a side wall, 6, a

toe end,7, and a heel end, 8 9, combined with the mold part at, having a corner, 13, and a steel lip, 14, brought to a thin sharp edge, both parts being corrugated, as'at 17, to operate substantially as described.

5. The separable mold and plunger, combined with the clamping-foot having the thin rim or flange b, to act upon and hold the blank frictionally as the plunger forces the blank through the mold,substantially as de scribed.

6. In a crimping-machine, the mold composed of the parts d d, the plunger, and the clampingfoot, combined witha stripper to engage the crimped upper passed through the mold and strip it from the plunger, substantially as described.

ALBERT R. JAMES.

Witnesses:

G120. W. GREGORY, R. G. \VHITTET. 

